Some critics were skeptical about the big move that the harshly addictive Showtime series Weeds proffered on its fourth season.  From the comforts of suburbia, the people behind this hit dramedy decided to move Nancy Botwin, played by Mary Louise Parker, and her drug-dealing ways to somewhere perhaps more liberated – a California beach town near the Baja border.

If unofficial tenets of shows are to be believed, changing the setting is a big no-no, as viewers not only get attached to the characters, they also get comfortably attached to places.  But if Weeds is about anything, it's about breaking conventions.  And Weeds series creator Jenji Kohan sees something positive on the change; an abundance of new opportunities for Nancy and the other cast members.  (Besides, lately, there've been a deluge of suburbia-based shows, such as Breaking Bad, Big Love, and Swingtown.)

Similarly, Parker, who had been praised for her masterful portrayal of the dark but mysteriously lovable pot-selling mom, agrees that placement and setting are very important because it's exactly what gives Weeds its distinct edge.

“I just tell the writers to make it as perverse and weird and crazy and bizarre as they can.  I like her to be up in a tree. I don't want her to be in the kitchen.  I want it to be extreme.  I think she's more interesting when she exists in a world where she's at odds, you know?  It's not as interesting to me when she's in a safe place.”

And it works for them.  The fourth season premiere on June 16 averaged more than 1.3 million viewers, more than 50 percent higher than last season's premiere, and way above the 488,000 and 578,000 marks it achieved for its first and second season premieres respectively.

-Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: OK!, Boston.com
(Image Courtesy of Showtime)